International Review of Economics Education最新文献

We show how to use the introductory econometrics textbook by Stock and Watson (2019) as a starting point for teaching and studying dynamic panel data methods. The materials are intended for undergraduate students taking their second econometrics course, undergraduate students in seminar-type courses, independent study courses, capstone, or thesis projects, and beginning graduate students in a research methods course. First, we distill the methodological core necessary to understand dynamic panel data methods. Second, we design an empirical and a theoretical case study to highlight the capabilities, downsides, and hazards of the method. The empirical case study is based on the cigarette demand example in Stock and Watson (2019) and illustrates that economic and methodological issues are interrelated. The theoretical case study shows how to evaluate current empirical practices from a theoretical standpoint. We designed both case studies to boost students’ confidence in working with technical material and to provide instructors with more opportunities to let students develop econometric thinking and to actively communicate with applied economists. Although we focus on Stock and Watson (2019) and the statistical software R, we also show how to modify the material for use with another introductory textbook by Wooldridge (2020) and Stata, and highlight some possible further pathways for instructors and students to reuse and extend our materials.

Instructors in principles of economics classes are incorporating more popular press material into their classes. This helps breathe life into economics and shows students that economic concepts can be applied in the real world. The current pedagogical literature on this topic often includes examples of popular media and assignments to go along with them. This approach has, by and large, not been extended to intermediate or upper-level courses. This paper develops an extensive list of long-form articles, podcasts, documentaries, and even a Hollywood film related to environmental economics that instructors can use in the classroom. Also included are discussion questions, response prompts, and a term paper assignment. By incorporating some of the myriad popular media artifacts that cover environmental issues into their courses, instructors of environmental economics can help their students apply what they learn in the textbook to real-life events.

The paper adds to the literature on the costs of higher education by estimating an individualised valuation of time spent studying. This valuation, in addition to the direct costs and the forgone earnings, allows us to assess the overall costs of undertaking higher studies, which is crucial for accurately estimating the rate of return to education and understanding the mechanisms of human capital accumulation. We use a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to evaluate the disutility of time spent studying by a group of students of economics in a leading Central European university. We investigate the heterogeneity of preferences towards time allocation across genders. We estimate the parameters of the students’ utility function assuming a random utility model using multinomial logit (MNL) and random parameter logit (RPL). We found that for students of economics studying for an additional hour resulted in a disutility worth around EUR 2.95, which is a rough equivalent of the minimum net hourly wage rate in Poland. This value is however higher than the value attributed to the disutility related to an hour spent at work. The estimated value was strongly heterogeneous, depending on students’ personal characteristics.

While assigning homework in college courses is supported by both psychological research on memory and studies of economics classes, research examining the marginal effect of homework scores on exam performance generally shows insignificant results. These weak marginal effects may be due to the number of times students repeat the work and how spread out they are; the few studies that show positive marginal effects of homework performance use at least three spaced repetitions. This study evaluates a spaced repetition model of short homework assignments repeated at increasing intervals in intermediate microeconomics. Results show a positive significant marginal effect; students who did better on the homework assignments scored higher on both in class exams and a cumulative final. The implication is that the simple change of structuring homework assignments with additional spaced repetitions may significantly improve learning.

Does teaching the theory of consumer choice in Introduction to Microeconomics enhance student learning in upper-level economics courses? In this study, a Public Finance course was selected as an example of an upper-level economics course. Results suggest that: (1) it can significantly benefit students in learning Public Finance when students learned about the topic (i.e., theory of consumer choice) in the Introduction to Microeconomics class within one year of enrolling in the Public Finance class; and (2) when the Public Finance instructor reviewed/taught the topic at the beginning of the semester, students who learned about the topic in the Introduction to Microeconomics class within one year of enrolling in the Public Finance class significantly performed better than other students who learned about the topic over one year before enrolling in the Public Finance class or never learned about the topic in the introduction class. Another interesting question emerged: who is responsible for teaching the topic — instructors who teach Introduction to Microeconomics or other faculty? While it seems reasonable to expect those who teach the Introduction to Microeconomics class to do so, some may not agree. We encourage further discussion of this topic among readers.

A mid-sized advanced undergraduate economics module has undergone an assessment reform, where a typical 60% final exam was replaced by four scaffolded coursework assignments, each carrying a 15% weight in the final grade. As a result, student satisfaction with assessment and feedback went up at the expense of higher staff workload. In addition, the reform raised the final grades over and above the increase typically associated with an improvement in learning and engagement, effectively triggering grade inflation. The paper identifies the coursework assignment that inflated the grades. It then proceeds with grade simulations, whose purpose is to formulate an assessment reform agenda aiming to maintain high student satisfaction, disinflate grades, and stabilise staff workload. Finally, the paper evaluates the scalability of assessment reforms where final exams are targeted for replacement by coursework assessments. The evaluation suggests caution with such reforms, if they are necessary in the first place. They may both be feasible and desirable in small classes, but compelling arguments caution against a premature wholesale rollout.

Writing-intensive economics courses are courses that use writing as a central feature of instruction and evaluation of students’ work. This study presents and evaluates teaching improvements on these basic structures. Using teaching evaluations data from eight public finance sections taught between Fall of 2012 and Spring of 2019, an ordered probit model estimates the value, as rated by students, of the following improvements to enhance the writing quality of student papers: (1) explicit grading rubrics; (2) funding a dedicated course specialist consultant (CSC) from the writing center; (3) engaging librarians in creating a literature review guide; (4) instructor blogging. The empirical model estimates the contribution of the improvements to the overall instructor and course evaluation ratings as well as to the writing component student ratings. Empirical results show that grading rubrics had a statistically significant positive effect on student assessments of writing component design and writing skills development. Engaging a dedicated CSC improves writing skills ratings. Instructor blogging had a statistically significant positive effect on instructor ratings while literature review guide improved course ratings. Only an expected grade had a significant positive effect on all student rated course outcomes. The goal of this paper is to provide ideas for enhancing economics content through writing.

In this paper, we discuss the differences between online and in-person students (“cohorts”) in an intermediate econometrics course taught in Summer 2021 using a hybrid (online and in-person) educational format. We designed this course as an experimental pilot which used a combination of lectures, labs, and hands-on activities to study whether hybrid instruction necessarily advantages one group of students (e.g., in-person) over another (e.g., online). We were particularly interested to know if differences could be reduced through course design choices and the use of interactive learning activities. We found that our design led to generally highly positive experiences for students – and there were no differences in affective experiences between the online and in-person cohorts. We did find some small differences in participation and peer-evaluation, favouring in-person students, but no differences in overall academic achievement. We conclude that this case study shows how certain forms of hybrid learning do not necessarily disadvantage online students, if properly supported with course and curriculum design. We also provide examples and guidance for educators seeking to adapt, replicate, or extend our approach.